Neural Newscast

[00:00] Aaron Cole: From Neural Newscast, this is Prime Cyber Insights, Intelligence for Defenders, Leaders, and Decision Makers.
[00:06] Aaron Cole: I'm Aaron Cole, and this is Prime Cyber Insights.
[00:10] Aaron Cole: We're tracking a week of high-contrast headlines ranging from breakthroughs in AI-driven defense to massive infrastructure failures.
[00:18] Aaron Cole: Joining us today is Chad Thompson, a director-level AI and security leader, with a systems-level perspective on automation, enterprise risk, and operational resilience.
[00:30] Aaron Cole: Chad, great to have you.
[00:31] Lauren Mitchell: And I am Lauren Mitchell.
[00:34] Lauren Mitchell: Our lead story involves a major move from Anthropic.
[00:37] Lauren Mitchell: This week, they introduced Claude Code Security, a limited research preview for enterprise customers.
[00:44] Lauren Mitchell: Built on their Opus 4.6 model, it doesn't just scan for patterns, it reviews code bases like a human expert.
[00:53] Lauren Mitchell: In early testing, it uncovered high-severity vulnerabilities in open-source software that had gone undetected for decades.
[01:01] Chad Thompson: It's a significant shift, Lauren. What's critical here is the systems-level mapping.
[01:06] Chad Thompson: By understanding how data moves through the entire architecture, this tool addresses the sheer volume of bugs that human security teams simply can't keep up with.
[01:16] Chad Thompson: However, the catch is that it doesn't auto-apply fixes.
[01:20] Chad Thompson: It still requires developer review to ensure operational resilience isn't compromised by a hallucinated patch.
[01:28] Aaron Cole: Exactly, Lauren. While we're looking at the future of defense, the present reality is looking quite grim.
[01:33] Aaron Cole: CISA just added a critical beyond-trust vulnerability, CVE-2026, to 1731, to its known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog.
[01:42] Aaron Cole: This has a CVSS score of 9.9.
[01:46] Aaron Cole: Exploitation by ransomware groups began within 24 hours of a proof-of-concept being made public on February 10th.
[01:52] Aaron Cole: We're seeing reconnaissance, lateral movement, and the deployment of Spark RAT across financial and healthcare sectors.
[01:59] Lauren Mitchell: The human cost of these exploits is already manifesting, Aaron.
[02:04] Lauren Mitchell: On Thursday, the University of Mississippi Medical Center discovered a ransomware attack
[02:11] Lauren Mitchell: that forced the closure of all 35 of its health clinics.
[02:15] Lauren Mitchell: Doctors have reverted to pen and paper, and elective procedures are canceled.
[02:21] Lauren Mitchell: This incident highlights the fragility of our health care infrastructure,
[02:25] Lauren Mitchell: especially as officials worry about potential retaliatory cyber attacks from state-sponsored actors.
[02:32] Chad Thompson: I mean...
[02:33] Chad Thompson: Lauren, that's the enterprise risk we talk about constantly.
[02:39] Chad Thompson: It's not just UMMC.
[02:41] Chad Thompson: Open Loop Health is facing federal lawsuits over a data breach.
[02:46] Chad Thompson: And Bumble is dealing with a class action linked to the Shiny Hunters group.
[02:50] Chad Thompson: When these telehealth and consumer platforms fail,
[02:54] Chad Thompson: the legal and operational fallout is immediate.
[02:58] Chad Thompson: It's a cascading risk profile that traditional security models are struggling to contain.
[03:03] Aaron Cole: We're also seeing a massive surge in volume, Chad.
[03:07] Aaron Cole: Radware's 2026 Global Threat Analysis Report, released this week, shows DDoS attacks increased 168% last year.
[03:18] Aaron Cole: The average customer is facing 139 attempted incidents every single day.
[03:24] Aaron Cole: The technology sector is bearing 45% of that load.
[03:29] Aaron Cole: It's a relentless environment, and it's becoming more powerful and disruptive.
[03:33] Lauren Mitchell: Right, Aaron.
[03:34] Lauren Mitchell: And the targets are getting more strategic.
[03:37] Lauren Mitchell: Chip-testing giant Advent Test was recently hit by ransomware, which threatens the already
[03:43] Lauren Mitchell: tight semiconductor supply chain.
[03:45] Lauren Mitchell: Meanwhile, in Europe, the French government disclosed on Friday that 1.2 million bank accounts
[03:52] Lauren Mitchell: were exposed in a breach of a national register.
[03:55] Lauren Mitchell: Even our browsers aren't safe.
[03:57] Lauren Mitchell: Google had to release an emergency Chrome update on Friday to patch CVE-20262441, the
[04:05] Lauren Mitchell: first actively exploited zero day of 2026.
[04:09] Aaron Cole: It's a lot to manage.
[04:11] Aaron Cole: On the regulatory front, CISA is opening a final feedback period for the CIR-CIA Incident
[04:18] Aaron Cole: Reporting Rules with town halls scheduled for March.
[04:21] Aaron Cole: they're looking for actionable improvements to reduce the burden of the 72-hour reporting requirement.
[04:28] Aaron Cole: On a lighter note, NASA's Artemis I mission is back on track for a March 6 launch
[04:34] Aaron Cole: after a successful fueling test on Thursday showed the hydrogen seals are finally holding.
[04:39] Lauren Mitchell: A rare bit of good engineering news to end on, but for those in the trenches,
[04:44] Lauren Mitchell: the priority remains patching that Chrome Zero Day and the Beyond Trust flaw immediately.
[04:50] Lauren Mitchell: For Prime Cyber Insights, I'm Lauren Mitchell.
[04:53] Aaron Cole: And I'm Aaron Cole.
[04:54] Aaron Cole: Chad, thank you for the insight.
[04:57] Aaron Cole: We'll be back next week to see if the defensive AI can start closing these gaps.
[05:01] Aaron Cole: Stay secure.
[05:03] Aaron Cole: For more analysis, check out pci.neuralnewscast.com.
[05:08] Aaron Cole: Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed.
[05:11] Aaron Cole: View our AI transparency policy at neuralnewscast.com.
[05:15] Aaron Cole: This has been Prime Cyber Insights on Neural Newscast.
[05:19] Aaron Cole: Intelligence for defenders, leaders, and decision makers.